OWENSBORO, KY (4/11/13) – Junior Achievement of Western Kentucky is in the running for a portion of a $1 million pledge from the State Farm Neighborhood Assist Program.

JA works with the Owensboro Independent Schools, the Owensboro Catholic Schools, and the Daviess County Public Schools within Daviess County and Owensboro to provide approximately 9,000 local students with Junior Achievement programs. To coordinate such an effort, however, requires a lot of funding. The State Farm Neighborhood Assist Program has pledged a total of $1,000,000.00 to be divided among 40 agencies in the nation. Each of the 40 selected will receive a $25,000 grant to be used to help fund their specific missions. To be one of the 40 selected agencies will require a lot of support from the local community. Of the approximately 3,000 agencies who originally applied for the grant program, 200 semi-finalists have been chosen.

Dan Douglas, who works with Junior Achievement of Western Kentucky, said that as of Wednesday, Daviess County’s JA program in number 33 out of the 200 semi-finalists. However, Douglas went on to say, there’s still a bit of work to do to hold a spot in the top 40.

“As of today, we are in the money, but there are 11 more days of voting,” Douglas said. “We have to get the word out or we could lose it. Being number 41 doesn’t get us anything.”

Douglas also said that the additional $25,000 in grant money will enable Junior Achievement to serve 1400 more local students in Daviess County this school year.

So what will Junior Achievement do for students with this grant? According to Dan Douglas, this year grant money will be used to teach students:

Elementary kids will learn the importance of saving; the difference in needs and wants, and how their community works. Middle school students will explore personal finance and discover their education and career options based on their skills, interests, and values.

High school students will receive important mentorship to help them make informed, intelligent decisions about their future, and foster the skills that will be highly useful in the business world. This additional $25,000 will mean that we will be able to serve 60 additional local classrooms reaching 1,400 more of our community's youth!

Additionally, if the $25,000 grant is awarded, local donations will match the grant by nearly 6:1, JA officials said. This will be used to create over 54,000 hours of educational experience for local student.

Below are instructions for voters: Step 1: If this is your first time voting, the State Farm Neighborhood Assist app will come up. You have to click on “go to app”. Step 2: You can either allow the State Farm Neighborhood Assist app to post on your behalf, or you can skip this step – both options are perfectly fine. Step 3: On the “Select a State” drop-down menu, click on “Kentucky”. Step 4: Click on “JA Sparks Student Success” on the lower half of the page. Step 5: Click the “Vote” button. You can cast 10 votes for JA Sparks Student Success in one sitting! Please continue to click the button until no votes are left for the day. Please wait one second between votes or the page will likely freeze. Step 6: After you vote, a pop up will ask you to share with your friends on Facebook or Twitter that you just voted. Please consider sharing so your friends can learn about this awesome contest! Step 7: You’re done! Please return tomorrow – every Facebook account has 10 votes per day. Thank you for supporting JA of West Kentucky!

Are you a returning voter? Here is what will happen: Step 1: If you click on the link above, you will be taken straight to the page where you cast your vote. No further drilling down is necessary! Step 2: Click the “Vote” button. You can cast 10 votes for JA Sparks Student Success in one sitting! Please continue to click the button until no votes are left for the day. Please wait one second between votes or the page will likely freeze. Step 3: After you vote, a pop up will ask you to share with your friends on Facebook or Twitter that you just voted. Please consider sharing to your friends can learn about this awesome contest! Step 4: You’re done! Please return tomorrow – every Facebook account has 10 votes per day. Thank you for supporting JA of West Kentucky!

If you have never voted before, search for “State Farm Neighborhood Assist” in the Facebook search bar. The app should come up. You would have to then follow Steps 1 through 7 for new voters, see above.

If you have voted before, you will find a button for the State Farm Neighborhood Assist app on the left side of your personal Facebook page. Click on the app, then click the big “vote” button. You will then have to drill down to the correct page by clicking on the drop-down menu that will let you pick a state, then click on “JA Sparks Student Success”, and THEN vote 10 times!